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Since Mike began making beer two or so years ago I feel like I have gotten a pretty good handle on how to incorporate it into recipes, especially desserts.

Recently, he purchased the necessary equipment to brew beer using the “all-grain” method which involves steeping the grains instead of purchasing liquid extract. Since we don’t have any cattle in the backyard to feed it to, this posed a fun new challenge of finding ways to use the spent grain (the bi-product of steeping the grains and removing the sugars) in recipes. After some botched experiments (grain chocolate chip cookies anyone?) I found a great spent grain bread recipe. It uses three whole cups of spent grain and produces a hearty, dense loaf. Smear a slice with homemade apple butter or dunk it in your favorite chili.

Homemade bread

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup wheat flour

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. commercial yeast

3 cups spent grain (Make sure to run the grains through a food processor. This is key to break down the husks and create a smoother texture.)

¼ cup of sugar

¼ cup olive oil

1 egg (beaten)

1 cup of milk

Instructions:

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and the wet ingredients in a smaller bowl. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in. Incorporate the wet into the dry and knead the dough by hand for five to ten minutes.

Shape the dough into ball and let rise in oiled, covered bowl until doubled–about 90 min. Punch down and divide. This makes three medium-sized loaves or two large loaves. Score tops with a knife.

Pre-heat oven. Bake at 350F for 40 min, until deep golden brown. You can also sprinkle water on them towards the end of the baking process to create a crunchy top crust.